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GEOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
The tape recording and captions give full details and the map on
the wall indicates the distribution of metals and minerals in the Transvaal.
The Western Transvaal has an abundance of archaeological
tools made of stone and rock engravings. This exhibition deals with
the Stone Age - a period during which people used stone tools.
The most well known archaeological site is Bosworth
with its rocks engraving. Museum officials have also found another
interesting site near Ottosdal. The next exhibition gives details regarding
this site.
PYROPHLLITE
It is also called "wonderstone" and in S.A. it is only
found in the vicinity of Gestopterfontein near Ottosdal where it is
mined by the firm "Wonderstone". Pyrophyllite is also found
mainly in Russia, the Pyrenees and USA
Pyrophyllite has been used for various purposes for
thousands of years. About ten thousand years ago, the Khoisan of the
Late Stone Age created the largest collection of rock engravings in
S.A. on these rocky outcrops, inclining in the same direction. The
subjects depicted vary from symbols of which the meaning is frequently
obscure, to animals such as elephants, rhinos, ostriches, lions, buffalo,
baboons, snakes and giraffes.
As far as the depiction of animals is concerned, it
is not known whether the prehistoric artist portrayed animals he actually
saw around him or whether he drew from memory. It is difficult to visualise
these rather bare and flat surroundings as a wooded area capable of
supporting the needs of a leaf eating giraffe. Is it possible that
the environment has changed so drastically in a mere ten thousand years?
For interest's sake, it can be mentioned that the
Khoisan people were the ancestors of the Bushmen and Hottentots and
that they did these engravings about seven thousand years before David
became king of Israel in Jerusalem.
During the latter part of the previous century and
the part of this century, block of Pyrophyllite were swan by hand and
used as building material, tombstones and ornaments were made by means
of a lathe and baked to harden. The colour of the stone also changes
when it is baked. After Lord Methuen was wounded and defeated by the
Boers, led by General Koos De La Ray, at Tweebosch, he spent the night
on the farm Gestopterfontein in the Van Zyl house, which was built
of Pyrophyllite. The ruins of this house can still be seen.
Today Pyrophyllite is mined extensively, and outcrops
are literally sawn up and removed. It is used for sculpting, as filler
in paint and powder for electrical insulation, boilermaker's chalk
and ties. It is also a component in the manufacturing of synthetic
diamonds.
NB. THIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND MINING SITE IS SITUATED
ON PRIVATE PROPERTY AND VISITORS ARE NOT ALLOWED.
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